Following on the activities of BirdLife International’s Albatross Task Force tackling the problem of seabird bycatch in Southern African and South American countries, the European Seabird Task Force has been established this month to work in a similar with fishers in Europe (click here).

The current focus is on demersal longlines and set gillnets, two fishing gears thought to be responsible for high numbers of seabird bycatch in Europe.  Activities are concentrating in the Baltic Sea in Lithuania (where gill nets drowning sea ducks and other diving species is the issue) and in the Spanish Mediterranean, where longlines kill shearwaters, including the ACAP-listed and Critically Endangered Balearic Shearwater Puffinus mauretanicus and the Vulnerable Yelkouan Shearwater P. yelkouan, a potential candidate for ACAP listing (click here).

Balearic Shearwater at sea

Although recently published information suggests a larger population of Mediterranean-endemic Balearic Shearwaters than was previously thought (click here), concern is still expressed in a press release by SEO (BirdLife partner in Spain) on its conservation status, with its global population decreasing in size (click here).

Click here for the Spanish version of the press release.

With thanks to Pep Arcos for information

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 11 February 2015

News from the Mainichi newspaper’s website of problems facing Streaked Shearwaters Calonectris leucomelas from feral Domestic Cats Felis catus on a Japanese island follows.

Streaked Shearwater on Mikura Island, photograph courtesy of Nariko Oka

“A Chiba Prefecture-based research institute is looking for cat lovers to adopt kittens of feral cats inhabiting a Tokyo island in a bid to protect seabirds that nest there.

Some 90 percent of the streaked shearwater, a species of seabird, is found in Japan, and Mikura Island, a Tokyo island about 5 kilometers in diameter, is the largest home to the species. They inhabit the island from around March to November each year. In recent decades, the seabird's numbers have been falling mainly as feral cats living on the island feed on them.

Senior researcher Nariko Oka at Yamashina Institute for Ornithology expresses concern over the safety of the species, saying that seabirds like the streaked shearwater that breed in groups may face risk of drastic decline in number if we overlook possible causes, in the way the albatross was driven to become an endangered species.

In a Tokyo Metropolitan Government study conducted in 1978, the number of the streaked shearwater living on Mikura Island was estimated to be between 1.75 million and 3.5 million. According to an Environment Ministry study in 2007, however, the figure had dropped to 880,000, and then to 770,000 in 2012, meaning that the figure has been falling by some 20,000 a year.

Experts believe that feral cats on the island are the main cause of the declining streaked shearwater population. The number of feral cats has grown as more people started moving in and out of the island since the 1990s, and people sometimes abandoned their domesticated cats. Oka estimates the number of feral cats on the island to be around 500.

Since fiscal 2005, the municipal government of Mikura Island has captured a total of 389 feral cats, neutering or spaying them to reduce their numbers, but most of them are released on the island after their operation.”

A feral kitten captured on Mikura Island, photograph courtesy of Nariko Oka

“Oka says, ‘Leaving feral cats that have high hunting ability will put numerous kinds of wild animals on the island in danger of extinction.’

The institute is using measures taken on the Ogasawara Islands, a UNESCO world heritage site, as an example, and is looking for people outside Mikura Island who can offer new homes to those feral cats.

According to the Environment Ministry, feral cats feeding on wild animals has become a serious concern on remote islands across the country, including Teuri Island in Hokkaido, Kagoshima Prefecture's Amami Oshima islands and Tokunoshima Island, as well as the northern part of the main island of Okinawa Prefecture.

Oka says feral cat adoption is scheduled to begin on Mikura Island this fall with cooperation from the municipal government, the Tokyo Veterinary Medical Association and other parties. As a trial, the institute is looking for homes off the island for kittens as they adapt to living with humans relatively easily.”

Click here to access other items in ACAP Latest News on Streaked Shearwaters.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 10 February 2015

ACAP Latest News has regularly reported on Midway Atoll’s Wisdom, a Laysan Albatross Phoebastria immutabilis, the World’s oldest known albatross calculated to be at least 63 years old (click here).  Wisdom and her partner have bred successfully in the last few years and have been attempting breeding again this year (click here).

Wisdom incubating on 7 December 2014, photograph by Greg Joder

However, news from Midway’s website is that the pair's latest breeding attempt has failed at the egg stage, as described below:

“There comes a time when nature reminds us when there is life, there is death.  As of January 6, 2015 Deputy Refuge Manager Bret Wolfe observed Wisdom, the world’s oldest known albatross, sitting on her nest without an egg, (she and her mate were both sharing incubation duties for most of December 2014).

So what’s up with the missing egg? Of the over 694,000 albatross nests counted on Midway Atoll National Wildlife Refuge during December 2014 a percentage of those nests with eggs have not hatched and some eggs have disappeared.  The island’s natural egg predators such the ruddy turnstones or bristle-thighed curlews can actually take eggs that are not closely attended.  Cockroaches and other scavengers such as mice can quickly move in to clean house and devour shell remnants of damaged eggs.  When this happens the albatross pair abandons their [sic] nest and tries again next year.  Additionally, Laysan albatross occasionally skip a year or even two as they use their precious energy resources to complete a full molt while at sea or simply take a breather to replenish their energy after accomplishing an exhaustive seven-month incubation and chick rearing effort.  Wisdom and her mate have been sighted and they appear to be fine.  Don't forget that Wisdom has maintained a record-breaking track record for rearing chicks beyond an age that humans understood was possible. We are therefore hopeful Wisdom and her mate will return next year to start nature’s cycle of rearing chick number 30 something!”

Click here for still photos and video clips of Wisdom incubating during December last year.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 09 February 2015

Australian albatross researchers Kate Lawrence and Jarrod Hodgson who are currently stationed on sub-Antarctic Macquarie Island report that four Wandering Albatrosses Diomedea exulans have fledged from the 2104 breeding cohort.  “Macca” supports one of the smallest breeding populations of this Vulnerable species, and one that has declined in size over the last several decades.

The following is quoted from the island’s on-line newsletter This Week at Macquarie Island for 6 February:

“Most recently, we have been observing last season’s wandering albatross chicks, and finding out how many 'wanderer' eggs have been laid this season.  Four of the six chicks that hatched last season have fledged, and Jarrod was lucky to witness one taking its maiden flight and heading out to sea.  If these youngsters survive, they will remain out at sea for several years before returning to try to find a partner."

One of the seven 2014 cohort pairs during the incubation period, photograph by Kate Lawrence

"Unfortunately though, two chicks did not make it.  Necropsies revealed the most likely causes of death as starvation.  This could indicate that the parents have not been able to find enough food for both themselves and to support their young.  Or perhaps one or both of the parents have met an untimely fate, possibly through interactions with commercial fishing operations, particularly long-line fishing, which remains a key threat facing albatrosses worldwide.”

One of the two 2014-cohort chicks that died of apparent starvation, photograph by Kate Lawrence

Seven eggs were laid last year (click here) of which six hatched in March (86%) and four fledged after being banded, giving an overall breeding success of 57%.

And prospects for this year?  The two researchers report just five eggs laid, suggesting a combined breeding population for the biennially-breeding Wandering Albatross on Macquarie Island of no more than 12-15 pairs.

With thanks to Kate Lawrence for information and photographs.

John Cooper, ACAP Information Officer, 08 February 2015